Keto Hype

The keto lifestyle is amazing; it’s the best way that I’ve found so far to lose weight and not feel like you are torturing yourself, however, it’s not perfect.

There is something that I like to call the “keto hype”- people who are doing keto usually try to hype it way more than it should be- me included. I started it just so I could call myself a Keto Master because it sounds like some cool karate stuff and I lost weight as a side effect.

I’m in my third week of keto and the honeymoon stage has quickly ended- I’ve actually gained 3 lbs. in just a few days. I had dropped 17 lbs. and really got used to seeing a lower number every time I stepped on that scale so I am a bit discouraged but not as bad as I would have been if I had been eating crappy food and killing myself.

When you first start this, you will see a lot of folks telling you not to worry about calories, just focus on the carbs and I’m here to tell you- that is bullshit. I have gone way over on my calories the last 3 days yet my carbs have been perfect and I’ve gained weight…trust me- calories matter!

All of your MACROS matter and you have to find that sweet spot of not too many fats/proteins but enough.

The other huge hype is the low carb food- most of it is great but don’t believe stuff like – “better than potatoes” or “just like real bread”- those are lies.

No amount of butter will make smashed cauliflower better than mashed potatoes. We’ve tried three different breads now and while all three were delicious- none have even come close to actual bread.

When you start cooking keto style, you will quickly notice that calories replaces the carbs. When you get low-fat food, they usually put sugar in place of the fat and that is what happens with calories in low-carb foods.

A lot of keto friendly baking involves almond flour, which is LOADED with calories. 80/20 hamburger is loaded with calories. You start learning that cooking with lean meats like turkey and chicken will cause your fat to be too low and your protein to be too high. You could use “fat bombs” to help even it out but then those are usually “calorie bombs” as well.

My wife made some amazing keto friendly cornbread the other night and while it was seriously delicious, each muffin had 215 calories!!! That is insane!!! We made “cloud bread” which is great but it’s not bread, it’s more like a fluffy pound cake and would be great with some berries/cream or something like that but not so much for sandwiches. Last night, she tried to make a loaf of bread and it was basically the best cornbread you have ever tasted- not too crazy on the calories and very carb friendly…however, the recipes said it tasted just like regular bread- it did not. At least we now have a great low-carb cornbread recipe though!

The foods are basically trial and error- what tastes good, what is good as far as calories and MACROS and just trying things- putting them into MyFitnessPal and just seeing what works.

Last night, she also made cheese shell tacos that could be the greatest thing I’ve ever put into my mouth- honestly better than regular tacos…however, they were calorie bombs! 3 tacos with shell, meat, lettuce, cheese and sour cream were 677 calories! I can go to Taco Bell and get 3 tacos for about 400 calories- the difference is, our tacos were low-carb and low saw dust.

I feel like most people doing keto hype it up way too much and I don’t want to be that guy- the food is great, you feel better than with most diets and it helps with a ton of health issues but it really takes some work – you HAVE to pay attention to every single thing you put in your mouth, I have to read every single label, you have to do research, you have to try to find recipes that taste great but doesn’t add up in a ton of calories. Then you have the asshates on top of all of that- you do your best, change your entire eating process yet they always say you aren’t doing enough or doing something wrong and blah…blah…blah. I’m a member of a keto Facebook club and sometimes, the folks that run it are just assholes.

Being a Keto Master is not easy, after two weeks I thought I had my black belt but it seems that I’ve dropped back down to yellow…or orange…green…aqua…whatever color belt is much lower than black.

Here are a few things that are giving me issues-

1.Sugar free candy is just as good as regular candy now and that isn’t a good thing! I remember trying sugar free candy as a kid and it being really nasty but, probably thanks to science, it tastes BETTER than sugar filled candy and that is really, really bad. (limit the candy!)

2.Too many high calorie meals in a row- yesterday, I had some left over Chili Dog Casserole and the Cheese Shell Tacos on the same day and it killed my calories.

3.Too many diet sodas- it seems I’m using diet soda as my go to if I feel hungry at all, or if we are out and I’m used to buying candy all the time- now I grab a diet soda and those are adding up.

4.Weighing too much- I’m too focused on that stupid number- I’m feeling great, eating awesome food and adding exercise- I’ve done this enough to know that the scale goes up and down- I just can’t get unattached.

5.More water- I need to drink more water- I’m at about ½ gallon or less per day and that isn’t enough.

Those are 5 things I’m going to try to do better…I really feel like this is my last chance. I’ve always refused to even consider surgery because it’s lame. (Sorry, if you have had it or feel different) I got myself into this and I need to be able to do it on my own but if this fails, my only other option is death.